This Fish Won't Become a Dragon

In his previous life, Fang Jie was an angler. Reborn, he became a grass carp in the Hongyan River.

While the fish in the river chased bait, he alone never took the hook.

He nurtured his true qi beneath the water, where he held the moon in his mouth, and visited old friends in the mountains, treading on dew.

When the Dragon Gate finally opened, the Dragon Lord bestowed dragon blood upon him and offered him a divine rank, then asked:

"Among all the scaled creatures under heaven, who wouldn't want to become a dragon?"

Fang Jie thought for a moment.

"I wouldn't."

If not a dragon, then what could he become?

Later, when black winds swept across the mountains and rivers and a fishing line descended from the highest heavens, he finally understood:

So-called dragonhood was no more than swimming out of the rivers of the mortal world, only to enter the fish basket of the heavens.

The mountains and rivers raised me, a single fish. I shall repay them with a living stream.

This fish will not become a dragon.

[Entirely handwritten] [No AI]